Steam-blower



(Model.) 2 Shets-Shet 1.

. LB BR. 'AM BR. No. 482,236. Patented sept. 6, ,1892.

$2 I 5- x SQA (Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2,

A. FLETCHER.

STEAM BLOWER. No. 482,236. Patented sept. 6, 1892.

l 'CyAN/' Q tated.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

AUGUSTUS FLETCHER, OF MINERSVILLE, PENNSYLVANIA.

STEAM-BLOWER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 482,236,1datedSeptember 6, 1892.

Application iiled November 2, 1891. Serial No. 410,569. (Model.)

.To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, AUGUSTUS FLETCHER, a citizen of the United States,residing at Minersville, in the county of Schuylkill and State ofPennsylvania,have invented certain new and useful Improvements inSteam-Blowers; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, andexact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilledin the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of referencemarked thereon, which form a part of this speciication.

My invention relates to steam-blowers, a class of devices wherein steamin jets is directed through a nozzle for the purpose of drawing airthrough said nozzle and delivering it in a heated condition to afurnace, whereby the combustion of the fuel is facili- Heretoforeblowers of this character have generally been composed of an annularsteampipe arranged at the mouth of a conical nozzle, the pipe beingperforated to permit the steam to escape in a circle of jets in adirection parallel with or in the plane of the axis ofthe nozzle. Thisconstruction requires the steam to be of considerable pressure in orderto establish a draft of air t-hrough the nozzle. It has been found thatthe use of this highpressure steam interferes with the economicalworking of the blower, since the Psteam expands to such an extent as tocompletely fill the nozzle, choking the supply of air and forming asolid column of wet steam, the rapid condensation of which checks thetire and vitiates the intended effect.

The object of my invention is to overcome these difficulties by soconstructing the blower as to permit the use of steam at a lowerpressure and to insure the delivery to the furnace, whatever thesteam-pressure, of a powerful stream of pure hot dry air havingsufficient velocity to lift and pass through the most compact mass offuel. I am thus able to use the smaller and cheaper grades of coal, suchas buckwheat and culm, or coal-dirt. I accomplish this by detlecting thesteam-jets from the plane of the axis and giving them a directionobliquely tangential to an imaginary cone whosebase coincides with thecircle of jets and whose axis lies in the axis of the nozzle at or nearthe delivery end thereof. This arrangement, taken in connection with theinner conical surface of the nozzle, gives the jets a conical spiraldirection. Thereby sweeping around the inside of the nozzle, they uniteto form a vortex or whirlpool of steam, which sucks in a strong currentof air, dries and heats it, and forces it in a solid column, surroundedby the whirling steam, into the fire-box of the furnace.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is alongitudinal section ofmyimproved blower.

Fig. 2 is an elevation of the outer end thereof,

and Fig. 3 is a View of the inner end. Fig. 4 is a View of a portion ofthe ring, showing the direction taken by the steam-jets. Fig. 5 is across-section of the ring on the plane 5 5, Fig. 4.

The nozzle A is composed of a frusto-conical tube open at each end andarranged with the smaller end communicating with the rebox of thefurnace. A lip a may be formed at the bottom of the mouth of the nozzleto discharge the drip of the condensed steam. In the mouth of the nozzleis an annular pipe B, fitting snugly into the nozzle and connected by anelbow b with a steam-supply pipe B', which is provided with suitablestop-valve b. Through the inner side of the annulus B is drilled anumber of small holes b2, each arranged to deliver a jet of steam intothe nozzle in a direction both laterally and inwardly oblique to theaxis of the blower, the lateral inclination being preferably aboutthirty degrees to a plane intersecting the axis of the nozzle and thehole h2 and the inward inclination being about seventy-five degrees tothe plane of the circle of jets, as indicated by dotted lines in Figs. 1and 2. When asupply of steam is turned into the ring B and issues fromthe hole b2, the circle of jets, striking the inner surface of thenozzle, is deflected into a conical spiral path and forms a hollowvortex, hugging the inner surface of the nozzle and forming at thecenter a Vacuum, into which the air is sucked and from which it isdelivered into the fire-box, in a strong steady current, hot and dry.The whirling motion of the vortex gives the particles of steam acentrifugal movement, which tends to prevent them from choking thesupply of air.

IOO

The quantity of air passing through the vortex of this blower has beenfound to be two thousand four hundred cubic feet per minute` with'aboiler-pressure of thirty-live pounds of steam.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to securebyLetters Patent, 1s-

1. Asteam-blowerconsisting of an annular pipe containing passagesthrough its walls for the escape of the steam, the direction of saidpassage being laterally and inwardly oblique to .the aXis of the blower,substantially as described.

2. A steam-blower consisting of a frustoconical nozzle and an annularsteam-pipe located in the large end of said nozzle, said pipe l AUGUSTUSFLETCHER. Witnesses:

GUsrAv FISCHER, THEODORE GRoss.

